Positives and negatives

Happy Friday! We made it – almost time for the weekend. And apparently a wet and windy one for the UK. Joy of joys.

Yesterday was a slightly different day as I was working from home. There were several positives and negatives in my day so I thought I’d base my post around that theme.

Positive: No commute in the morning. Bliss. Also, getting up at 8am is heavenly. I think I had a full 10 hours sleep.

Negative: I was really sleepy and reluctant to actually get out of bed. Can’t I work from bed? No. I needed to get up, showered and downstairs at our table to get into ‘work mode’.

Positive: I had Cougar Town on in the background as I worked. I am so addicted. I think I love every single character. They’re hilarious. Also 20 minute episodes are perfect chunks.

Negative: I had to keep pausing Cougar Town when I needed to concentrate and think. I would have loved to have just sat there watching the TV all day but I actually have work to do and it required a bit of brain power. Boo.

Positive: Unlimited access to all food.

Negative: Unlimited access to all food. Thankfully I had our weekly food shop delivered later in the day so we were a bit bare on the snacks until the afternoon. Then a huge watermelon came into my life.

And then there was some serious watermelon massacre…

I couldn’t stop. It was so good.

Positive: I got loads of chores done in between working. Putting the washing on, hanging it up, etc. I love feeling doubly efficient..

Negative: Alfie giving me his big old furry “walk time?” eyes. All. Day. Long. No Alfie, you just have to go in the garden I’m afraid.

Positive: I had running club in the evening which was great because it meant I didn’t have to rush home and have a mad dash to get ready. I could even prepare dinner for when I got back (Ben was working late so it was just me for dinner). I could just shut down my laptop and amble upstairs leisurely.

I was quite nervous about running club as I hadn’t run since Sunday (all part of the ‘easier’ week). I was just terrified of any pain or discomfort. But I started running and it was great! Towards the end of the run my groin was slightly achy and I could feel it going downhill but otherwise I felt quite strong.

I got to the meeting spot to find my usual group flagging on numbers. In the end it was two speedy guys and me. It wasn’t too tough and we took it easy in the middle as it’s now a lot darker in the evening and we were running through some woods and had to be careful of footing. I managed to push it on my own for the last mile as I headed home.

Positive: I got to wear my new high vis’ arm band. It’s got LED lights all round it that you can turn on. Brilliant for the winter. One of the guys said it looked cool

Negative: That same guy said it looked cool…just like a Christmas tree. Excellent.

The run really helped me feel more confident for my goal pace for the half marathon on Sunday. Basically I’m going to aim for a certain pace (comfortable but not completely easy) and then as I hit 9 miles see what I think of pushing it a bit more. Who knows. I’ll see how it goes.

I’ve ummed and arr’ed about taking my hydration belt but I think I’m just going to go ‘naked’ (there’s an image!) and if I need water pick it up at the drinks stations (of which there are plenty). I don’t think I’ll need any gels either, but there are some available there.

After the run I got home and ate a mammoth meal of stir fry veg, chicken, butternut squash, courgette (zucchini) noodles, chicken and cream cheese.

You know when you go from starving to full really quickly? Yep I felt that quite strongly last night!

So tomorrow I’m off to Bristol to see friends, and then it’s the half marathon on Sunday…duh duh DUH (<– dramatic music, if you didn’t get that…)

What are your plans this weekend?

Do you switch up your work out gear for winter? Any high vis’ lovers out there?

Water, gels…how do you fuel during races? Unless it’s hot I won’t bother, maybe just water from the stations. Gels only if it’s really tough. I’ll have had a good breakfast so I’ll be fine.

5 Replies to “Positives and negatives”

I love how all your positives are actually your negatives too!!! I’ve his started working from home two days a week and found that I need background noise with the tv on, but I can’t put anything on I’m remotely interested in else I get distracted and my work doesn’t get done!
I’m off to Bristol in a bit to get settled and have a pep talk with the coaches before tomorrow. Despite the weather being icky this is my favourite racing weather. Not gonna be great for supporters tho. But I am definitely looking forward to the race! Good luck! Hope you don’t get any discomfort or aches on the day. 🙂

I would love to work from home! Not possible really though in my line of work haha! Although when I do work at home (planning, marking etc) I like having the radio on (radio 4 mainly) as I like having some noise. I know what you mean about being efficient too- put on some washing, do 90 mins work, hang up the washing and have a job ticked off the list.
I love high viz things and they are so important too! I have a vest thing (sort of like a string vest I suppose) that I wear over my running clothes in the dark- be safe be seen I say!
I used to always take water with me (well water with nuun in it) during half marathons but this year I have stopped and just had a few sips from water stations if I feel I need it. I tried a few energy gels but now have a few jelly beans in my pocket for a boost in the final few miles- like you say I will have a good breakfast and I will be fine- it’s not as if I am going fast enough to need that sort of amount of energy! Hope you enjoy the half and fingers crossed the weather is not too bad.

I think that’s the best way to work – sprints where you’re really focused and get loads done, then have a break and refresh and do something else. Then you get back into work so much better. I’m so much more productive that way.
I surprised myself and took a gel from one of the stations at Bristol and used it at mile 10 just to ‘keep me going’ when I needed to speed up the last few miles.